I bought a large fabric world map years ago, and one of the last things that I did project-wise while my mom was here was to make it into a floor mat for Annie. She's had fun running on, stacking toys on it, pretending to sleep on it, and when asked "Where do John and Tonia live?" she points to Finland. Of course, she has no clue what it means, but we still think it pretty exciting that she can find Finland on a world map, and that she'll relate that to John and Tonia (my brother and his wife who are there for his job).
As mentioned in the last few posts, Annie's vocabulary is starting to grow by leaps and bounds. She loves to repeat things (sounds, gestures, etc.) Instead of saying "bye-bye" to things in her room at night, she now says "night-night." Following her daddy's example, today she started imitating the sound of the milk steamer on our espresso machine. She's actually quite good at it, and when she and Eric went on a walk before lunch today, she made the sound for much of the walk.
My mom was here through this past Friday, and we very much enjoyed having lots of playtime with Grandma. Annie enjoyed walking her up in the morning, tickling her during diaper changes, and reading stories with her. Whenever Grandma would cross her arms (to keep her hands warm, she insisted), Annie would do her best to do the same. We'll miss having her here, but are looking forward to seeing her and the rest of the Arizona family in late October when we visit there!
Yesterday morning, Annie's friend River spent the morning with us. They enjoyed playing a bit with Annie's toys here, and then we headed to the Children's Museum where they very much enjoyed the new Ball-o-Rama exhibit, Habitot, and water play. It's fun to watch the two of them interact, they're just over three months apart and that difference is becoming less and less obvious the older they get. Driving to lunch after nap time, Annie held River's hand most of the way...it was pretty cute!
We started an ECFE (Early Childhood and Family Education) class through our school district last week, and it was fun to meet new friends for Annie to play with, and moms for me to talk with. We're looking forward to music class starting up again this week, and to all sorts of autumnal activities!
